In honor of the all-youth team that will be active from the world-famous, propagation-juggernaut PJ2T Signal Point station for the CQ WW SSB Contest, Oct. 25-26, OnAllBands is featuring an encore presentation of Curaçao QSL cards, including one very special card commemorating five decades of contesting supremacy.
PJ2T’s legacy continues with this latest youth-centric operation. Search on “Young Ops, Big Signals” to read an insightful OnAllBands article by PJ2T 2025 team member Violetta, KN2P. She writes about the Caribbean Contesting Consortium (CCC), her past experiences at PJ2T, and the accomplished young operators who have been assembled to compete in October.
About Curaçao and PJ2T
Geographically, Curaçao—a constituent country of the Netherlands in the southern Caribbean Sea about 40 miles north of the Venezuelan coast—is relatively small. At 171 square miles in area (larger than Liechtenstein but smaller than Guam), the island nation, a part of the Netherlands Antilles until 2010, holds the 199th position on the list of countries and dependencies ranked by size.
In the world of ham radio, though, Curaçao towers like a 160M Yagi. PJ2T has been recognized as the most-logged callsign in the hobby. As reported in the Caribbean Contesting Consortium newsletter, the station reached more than one million LoTW QSOs in 2019 (add five more years of activity to that number and, well, you do the math):
“One million. Such a big number. We made our millionth PJ2T LoTW QSO on the WWCW weekend. Alex Murashkin, UT3V, was QSO number 1,000,000 at 0942Z on Saturday morning, 14.039. In total we have many over a million PJ2T contacts, but this Logbook of the World milestone is really notable.”
Watch this video from DX Engineering media partner Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio featuring a great interview with Geoff Howard, W0CG, about PJ2T, which is located 12 degrees north of the equator in what has been described as a “magical propagation zone.” Howard, W0CG, took over stewardship of PJ2T in 2001 and formed the CCC, which would prove significant in keeping the station active and winning contests.
“Call it magic or call it applied physics, but that latitude coupled with proximity to the saltwater coupled with a dash of fairy dust makes the place work really, really well,” Howard, WoCG, said, explaining why PJ2T continues to shine in the contesting world.
Tim Duffy, K3LR, DX Engineering CEO, received this QSL card commemorating the first-ever contest operation from Coral Cliff, Curaçao. Conducted by six U.S. operators in November 1967, the team used modest antennas and equipment (and took advantage of excellent propagation) to win World #1 in CQ WW CW Multi-Multi.
The inside of the booklet/card reads, “Impressed by the incredible propagation conditions from Curaçao many teams followed, and half a century of intense contest operation ensued from this Curaçao neighborhood. In 1971, W1BIH (John Thompson, SK) had a house built there for contesting, and since 2000 the PJ2T group has continued the neighborhood’s contesting tradition from that W1BIH house. We believe that more contest QSOs have been made from this locale in the remote west end of Curaçao than from anywhere else worldwide, and PJ2T has become the most-logged callsign in our hobby.”
The six original operators, hosted by Chester Brandon, PJ9EE/PJ2CC (SK), were Victor C. Clark, W4KFC (SK), president of the ARRL from 1963-74; Bill Grenfell, W4GF (SK), longtime FCC Chief of the Rules Branch; John Thompson, W1BIH, PJ9JT (SK); Roy Fosberg, W1TX (SK), engineer and avid DXer; Len Cheretok, W3GRF (SK), longtime leader of the Potomac Valley Radio Club; and Al Rousseau, W1FJ, 60+ year contester, DXer, and the only surviving member of the PJ3CC 1967 CQWW CW win.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of PJ3CC’s 1967 contest victory, a nine-operator crew activated PJ2T for a weekend celebration in November 2017 with Al, W1FJ, serving as the guest of honor. Operators were W8WTS, NA2U, N7IR, N5OT, W0CG, W0TT, K1YR, KB7Q, and K2PLF.
More Curaçao QSL Cards from the DX Engineering Team
Dave, K8DV, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, sent the below QSL cards to OnAllBands:
Here are several from the collection of Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer:
Ed, K8IV, retired DX Engineering senior engineering technician, provided us with photos of his time operating from PJ2T in 2019.
Visit DXEngineering.com for everything you need to upgrade your station to make sure you’re ready when PJ2T is on the air. You’ll find transceivers, antennas, amplifiers, CW keys and paddles, headsets and speakers, reference books like “Ham Radio DX: A Complete Guide,” and much more.
Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!
